Report Claims Leading Candidate for Wenger's Successor at Arsenal Has Been Offered Top National Post

Carlo Ancelotti, ​one of ​Arsenal's leading candidates to succeed Arsene Wenger as Gunners boss at the end of the season, has been offered the vacant role of head coach of the Italian national side, according to a report from the Sun.

The Azzurri, on the other hand, have been without a manager since they sacked Gian Piero Ventura in November after Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years.

According to Sky Sports, Ancelotti held a meeting with Italian Football Federation commissioner Roberto Fabbricini and sub-commissioner Alessandro Costacurta in Rome on Monday night, and was subsequently offered a two-year contract with the national side.

The former ​Real Madrid boss is yet to accept the offer and suggested only last month that he would prefer to manage a club team.

Asked whether he would be Italy's next manager, Ancelotti replied, as quoted by the Sun: "My answer is this: the federation... must create its own new structure, after which it will make the decision. I rest of my idea, it takes first clarity, then you can think about it, even if my goal is still to train a club team."